“Sweet the memory is to me / Of a land beyond the sea, / Where the waves and mountains meet, / Where amid her mulberry-trees / Sits Amalfi in the heat, / Bathing ever her white feet / In the tideless summer seas.” In 1875, this is how Henry W. Longfellow wrote about la Costiera Amalfitana – the Italian Amalfi Coast. For a week in mid-October, just before the end of the season, we immersed in its enchanted, dreamy and unprecedented beauty. We stayed in Maiori and rented a car to drive along the stunning corniche to Sorrento, Positano and Ravello. We took a boat to Amalfi. We had no plan, and simply embraced la dolce far niente – the sweetness of doing nothing.
Maiori
Maiori is half-way between Salerno and Sorrento. In Middle Ages, it was the seat of the admiralty, the customs, the salt market and several arsenals of the powerful Ducato di Amalfi (the Duchy of Amalfi). Maiori is very different from other towns on la costiera. In 1954, a catastrophic flooding and landslide destroyed its old town and created the flat seafront. Today, it has the longest sandy beach on the coast, and a lively seaside boulevard, popular for evening strolls.
As we wandered along the Lungomare Amendola (the seafront promenade) towards the port, we passed the Chiosco Bar San Francesco, a non-descript place that we almost missed. But once we did stop by, we were returning several times during our short stay! The owners, Francesco and his wife Lena, greet customers with their exceptional Italian hospitality. They work very hard from early morning till late evening hours but no matter when we came, they made us feel as if we were a part of their family. We got simple but delicious dishes and desserts, homemade by Lena and her mother-in-law. Francesco invited us to taste his birra atrigianale – artisan “Terra Mia” beer that he manufactures in 13 different flavors, some quite unusual – like lemon, orange, coffee and chocolate – but all delicious. The Terra Mia micro-brewery, established a decade ago just outside Maiori, produces only 100 liters a year of this fresh, organic beer that you will not find anywhere else. In the Amalfi region famous for its limoncello and wine, Francesco is among the very few local beer makers, and he told us, with great passion and pride, about his production. And it wouldn’t be an Amalfitana family if they didn’t make their own limoncello, too: the best we have ever tried!
Sorrento
From Sorrento you can see the entire Golfo di Napoli, the Gulf of Naples, with Mount Vesuvius in the distance. This part of the coast and sea was known to ancient Greeks as the “Land of the Sirens”. It was here where the sirens’ singing lured sailors to run their ships onto the rocks and where, according to Homer, Odysseus had himself tied to a mast to resist their song.
Sorrento has always been a mecca for artists: Byron, Nietzsche and Dickens, to name just a few, stayed here. Ibsen finished Peer Gynt while living in the town, and Edvard Grieg stayed in 1869 and 1884, composing nocturnes that splendidly convey the spirit of warm evenings above the Golfo.
We took a slow stroll from Piazza Torquato Tasso, the busy main square named after Sorrento-born famous Renaissance poet, along Via San Cesareo. Once the central street of the Roman city of Sorrento, today this cobbled lane is filled with restaurants and limoncello makers, and artisan shops with locally made luxury jewelry and leather crafts, ceramics and wood inlay. A surprise marvel is Sedile Dominova, an elegant 15th century open loggia built as a meeting place for the nobility, where today’s locals gather to enjoy a quiet game of cards under the beautiful frescos. Another hidden treasure, slightly further from the central Piazza, is il Vallone dei Mulini – the Valley of the Mills. Deep down the gorge, we could see ruins of XIII-century stone-built mills that were once the heart of the Sorrento’s pasta industry. Abandoned since 1940s, they are now covered in lush greenery, giving a spectacular view into times gone by.
Positano
“Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone” – wrote John Steinbeck in 1953. As we arrived by car from above and walked down the narrow streets and steep stairs, the feeling of being in a dream place that isn’t quite real never left me. With colorful houses cascading down the dark-green cliff towards the turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea, balconies and terraces on top of one another, each with its own féerie of plants and flowers, it certainly is one of the most picturesque places in Europe. But above all that, Positano has its unique chic ambiance.
The first thing we noticed were the town’s fashion boutiques, proudly displaying local clothing and shoe brands that, since the 60s, have formed Moda Positano – the world-famous Positano style. Inspired by the colors of the Amalfi Coast, the legendary Positano clothes, comfortable and light, are handmade of natural fabrics like linen and hemp, often with delicate embroidery and laces. Local artisan shoemakers display their flat-heeled leather sandals, some decorated with jewelry, that have been the favorites of celebrity clientele, including Jackie Kennedy and Brigitte Bardot. Unlike in other towns along the coast, here every boutique produces and sells its own “Made in Positano” quality items, so you just need to follow your taste to find something unique or have it tailor-made.
Amalfi
Amalfi, once the capital of the Ducato di Amalfi, today is the main town of la Costiera Amalfitana, included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is believed to be a birthplace of Flavio Gioia, traditionally considered the first to introduce (~1300) the mariner’s compass to Europe. Amalfi’s ancient naval dockyards now host the Museum of the Compass. Sixty-two steps lead to the medieval Duomo di Amalfi – Cattedrale di Sant’Andrea (St. Andrew Cathedral), with its richly decorated Moorish-style front façade, that crowns the main square, Piazza del Duomo. Nearby, amidst souvenir stalls, there is a hidden marvel – a stationary shop selling the ancient pride of Amalfi: thick, smooth and creamy luxury paper products, manufactured locally of cotton and hemp.
“Out of lemon flowers / loosed on the moonlight, […] sodden with fragrance, / the lemon tree’s yellow emerges, / the lemons move down / from the tree’s planetarium” – these words by Pablo Neruda fit perfectly “the Amalfi gold” – the famous sfusato Amalfitano. Dating back to Roman times, this unique lemon is large and fragrant, with characteristic pointed ends that gave it its name. A friend introduced us to Amalfi Lemon Experience, an exceptional initiative by the Aceto family who have been cultivating lemons here for six generations. We walked up the terraces of family lemon gardens, as they are called here. Our guides described to us the family history and the extremely hard work of growing and picking lemons, done the same way for centuries as the steep terrain does not allow for mechanization. They told us about young people leaving the gardens for easier jobs in tourism. They said how important it was to stop the abandonment of stone-walled terraces and lemon groves to prevent soil erosion and deadly landslides, a growing problem with heavy rains of recent years. They invited us to taste their produce: cakes, lemonades and limoncellos, so fresh and aromatic. But most of all, our guides inspired us by who they are: young Aceto women and men with pride and love for their family heritage, and with a vision to invest in modern times’ tourism that would preserve, not destroy, family and community traditions.
Ravello
A local legend holds that when the devil wanted to tempt Jesus with the wonders of the world, he took him to Ravello. Perched high above the sea, it is another true jewel of the Amalfi coast. Gore Vidal (whom I had an honor to meet once in his Rome apartment, several lives ago) lived here for 30 years. He wrote that Ravello was “a wonderful place from which to observe the end of the world” – and that’s what we did. We enjoyed our morning coffee on Piazza Vescovado and went to see the XI-century Duomo – the Cathedral of Ravello that overlooks the Piazza. We visited Villa Rufolo, a Moorish-style estate built in 1270, with its splendid terraces overlooking the azure bay that inspired Wagner to write the second act of Parsifal. We had lunch in a clifftop restaurant with a breathtaking view of the sea. And we wandered the quiet, winding streets, past the shops with brightly painted pottery of the Amalfi Coast, a traditional craft here since the XV century.
At a turn of the narrow Via Roma, we entered a small yard full of ceramics and were immediately charmed. During our week on the coast we saw many pottery shops but this one was definitely different. Instead of repetitive, commercial designs, we found tabletops with classical, subtle patterns, vases with delicate, artistic drawings, and plates decorated with the craftsmanship we have not seen anywhere else. Intrigued, we went inside and found ourselves in a ceramics’ heaven: the Ceramiche D’Arte Pascal. Almost 40 years ago, artist Pasquale Sorrentino has created this magical, family-run place. Each piece – from serving plates to picture frames – is hand-made and individually, beautifully painted, combining traditional pottery techniques and refined art. With a growing recognition of his exquisite ceramics, including by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen and others, Pasquale expanded the production beyond the original Via Roma workshop. Pointing to his signature designs, he said: “Other shops sell items with patterns that are copied from me. They look similar, but you will quickly see the difference in quality. We might be a small firm, but I want the name Ceramiche D’Arte Pascal to be a synonym of exclusive quality.” Made with respect for tradition and creativity, the “by Pascal” collections are indeed crème de la crème of Amalfi Coast ceramics crafts.
If you ever visit la Costiera Amalfitana, remember this: people have lived here since times immemorial. People with great pride, character, love for local legends and traditions, and a sense of community. The magic of the Divine Coast is not just its picturesque landscape, unlike any other. It is its people, young and old, who forge with their hands the amazing beauty of local crafts. Whose ideas, initiatives and projects keep the Amalfi Coast alive. It is their home. Respect it.
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